Noctiversary
by Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh
Summary: On the anniversary of the fight with the Red Death, Hiccup is as usual haunted by nightmares. Can Astrid help him manage the Edge even with his lack of sleep, or is she going to mess up horribly? Hints of Hiccstrid.


**_Hello new and old readers. To my old readers: yes, I said I was going to be a 1-fandom writer, and yet this is the fourth fandom I take up. To my new readers: hi, the name's Khor, I love HTTYD and I ship Hiccstrid (also Toothless x Stormfly even though it's not canon)._**

Rocks weren't supposed from the sky on normal circumstances. Everyone knew that. It was common knowledge, a field of the famous common sense. Any normal day didn't have rocks falling from the sky. There were only a few possible explanations as of why pebbles, stones and rocks could fall from the sky. One such explanation would be a volcanic eruption going on somewhere nearby. Fortunately for everyone, that was not the case. Another explanation would be a catapult throwing stones around. Again, luck seemed to be shining down from the heavens, because no catapults were in sight. That left the third.

A dragon dropped it from the sky.

Again, there were only a few explanations. One, a wild dragon had committed the crime, which could be immediately ruled out as no dragon on Edge would do such a thing. Second, Snotlout had pissed off Astrid _again_, which was possible and actually quite probable, but had that been the case, a simple rock wouldn't have been how she would've enacted her revenge. Fishlegs accidentally throwing a rock too far while playing with Meatlug was just plain unthinkable given the size of the boulder. That left the twins with one of their random pranks deemed 'funny' by them and 'stupid and dangerous' by everyone else.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was thoroughly fed up with the day. A prank by the twins was usually easy to deal with, but only if he was in the mood for it, which he wasn't. Not even the fact it had been on Snotlout could quell the irritation building up inside him.

The young leader of the Dragon Riders and 'chief' of Dragon's Edge sighed, massaging his forehead to soothe his burning headache. "Snotlout, it's a rock."

"Of course it's a rock! Even I can see that!" the shorter, stockier boy retorted immediately, the complaining totally not helping with his headache. "And a rock shouldn't be in my beautiful house! It's the third time this month the twins drop a rock on my house! What if I'd been at home?! I could've been killed or even worse, my beautiful face could've been ruined! These muscles need a handsome face to match!"

Hiccup felt more than heard Astrid hold in her lunch at those words. It was no secret what she thought of the boy, his muscles and his face. In her opinion, all of them needed a good conversation with her axe. In the same way, he knew without seeing that Fishlegs would try to hide his amusement while the twins would look innocent, or at least attempt to, unsuccessfully.

"And why did the twins drop a rock on your house, Snotlout?" asked Hiccup, trying to ignore both his headache and his building frustration.

"Why would I know?" protested the boy, immediately on the defensive. "Ask them!"

"And instead I want to ask _you_, because it's the third time already and the last two it was always for the same reason," replied the poor leader. Silence met his words. Or at least, silence from Snotlout. The dragons seemed to be snickering, Toothless was just staring at them as the conversation went on, and the other Riders seemed highly amused. "Snotlout, did you steal Tuffnut's mace again?"

"It's just a stupid mace!" the bulky teen exclaimed as soon as he was called out on his theft. "I just needed to hammer some nails! I couldn't find my hammer so I took that mace!"

"Macey is not a construction tool!" Tuffnut yelled from behind Hiccup, too amused by the scene to really start a fight for his lady mace's honour. "It's a glorious weapon of destruction who deserves respect!"

"Regardless of its original purpose, that mace is Tuffnut's, Snotlout, you can't just steal it because they're closer than the clubhouse-"

"Which isn't even true, you just don't know where the hammers are kept because you always have Hiccup do the organizing," Astrid cut in with a tone partially aggressive and partially amused. Gods, they were really finding the whole thing funny, weren't they?

"Anyway, the point is that you can't steal people's stuff because it's easier," Hiccup continued, trying to ignore the surprised expressions on the twins' faces, as if they'd never known that was an actual rule. Everyone had long given up on those two, hoping that they could just kill themselves in one of those crazy disasters they so seemed to love.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, but I still have a rock in my house!" replied Snotlout, clearly not giving a quarter of a nothing about what Hiccup had to say. Just like usual. "How am I supposed to live in a caved-in house?!"

"Uhh, you set up camp in it?" Ruffnut offered as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Which wasn't wrong per se as that would be more or less what Hiccup would do in case he couldn't repair it, but which kind of missed the point.

Typical twins. Sometimes genius, but not quite there in their heads.

"You're not, Snotlout, you're supposed to _repair_ it!" Hiccup explained, frustrated, headache and irritation peaking as the black-haired boy before him opened his mouth to argue.

"And with what hammers? Or planks? Or shingles? I don't have everything here," he stated, crossing his arms on his chest.

"No, you're supposed to get those from the clubhouse too!" Hiccup snapped, turning around and storming over to Toothless. "Where there are all our construction tools and materials from back when we were still building the Edge! Even you can't have forgotten that so quickly," he added as he mounted on the saddle.

"Hey, wh-where are you going?" Fishlegs finally spoke up. "We-"

"I'm taking a quick patrol flight around the island," Hiccup quickly put together a half-truth, half-lie, full-improvisation. "Ryker is smart, but Viggo is diabolical. There's no reason for him to just randomly attack us today, which is exactly why he might. I'll be back in ten minutes, meet me at the clubhouse."

Without waiting for a response, he took off faster than eye could follow, leaving behind both Riders and dragons.

"He can't just up and ditch us!" protested Snotlout, waving his arms around dramatically – a family trait he and Hiccup shared, probably the only one.

"I don't know, he _is_ the leader," noted Ruffnut.

"Yeah, he kinda makes the rules," added Tuffnut.

"Well, he's not wrong about Viggo," replied Astrid, already mounting on Stormfly. "But I doubt he'll find anything. Let's just wait for him at the clubhouse – so Snotlout can also get the stuff he needs to fix his roof."

Fishlegs and Ruffnut both immediately headed for their dragons, while Tuffnut remained behind just enough to nudge Snotlout. "Also, we want that boulder in our hut's courtyard by tomorrow morning, it's ours."

Then he fled before Snotlout could catch him. Despite loving pain and being an idiot, everyone knew Tuffnut wasn't _that_ much of an idiot.

/-/

Stressful couldn't even describe how they day had been thus far, and Hiccup couldn't wait for it to end. Aside from the usual pain that came with being the leader of a ragtag group of Riders who were only organized when it came to fighting the Dragon Hunters, the extra sufferance came from his lack of sleep in the past few days. And as anyone with a little bit of brain knew, insomnia made him think less, which resulted in more complaints from the gang.

Though in the end, it wasn't his fault. Sure, telling the twins to repair Snotlout's hut might not have been the brightest way to end the problem, but it wasn't specifically _his_ fault they found a way to raze it to the ground _while being supervised by Snotlout himself_.

Unfortunately, one of the _many_ downsides of being a leader was that for every problem people came to him looking for the answer. And if he didn't have it… well, Odin help him come up with one soon.

The Dragon Hunters weren't making it any easier, obviously – when were they ever? They were a constant headache to worry about. Normally, what Hiccup didn't have over Viggo in intelligence, he made up in improvisation once they realized the trap, but that only worked on the field. Planning their next move while knowing the Hunters had a plan too was always near unbearable, especially when the others were listening and reminding him of just how many times Viggo had outsmarted him. With the lack of sleep he'd been experiencing lately, he didn't even want to _try_ and guess Grimborn's game.

Toothless landed in front of his hut and Hiccup slipped off the saddle, stretching his poor three and a half limbs. Now he understood why his father never had time for him, if the problems of five people kept him so occupied, he couldn't even imagine handling an entire village!

Groaning, he collapsed on his bed. Though, to be honest, Berk didn't have to deal with weird Rider quirks, studying and labelling dragons, and fighting stupidly smart Dragon Hunters on a daily basis. He was unique in that too. Yay for him.

He rubbed his eyes. He was too tired even for his own sarcasm, and that was bad, really really bad. Usually, being tired made him _more_ sarcastic, not less. Apparently his body had gone on rationed energy even in his thoughts.

"Hiccup?"

He couldn't help it. He groaned miserably. Even if the voice belonged to the Rider he could currently stand more -aka currently hated less-, it still was not the time. "'M here…"

"Wow, that bad?" Astrid Hofferson asked as soon as she spotted him, leaving her Deadly Nadder outside to play with Toothless, blunt like a warhammer as always.

"Worse…"

The young woman sat on the bed beside him, staring down at him with a mix of worry and amusement. "Tough day chiefing?"

"I'm not the chief," he replied automatically. Then he slumped more when she continued to look at him unimpressed. "I'm tired."

"Even the twins could see that. But why? Today wasn't particularly tiring." She appeared to think over her words for a second before correcting herself. "Well, no more than usual, at least, which is good."

"I'm still tired."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Oh poor tired baby. What do you want, hot broth and a warm blanket? Should I sing you a bedtime story?"

"Oh, shush you, I just want to sleep," he snapped angrily, realizing his mistake when her eyes hardened and she stood up. "Wait, I- I didn't mean- Argh!"

"You didn't mean what?" she retorted.

_Temper temper_, a small, suicidal part of him commented at her answer. He silenced that part with practised ease. He took a deep breath and started over. With Astrid, it was always better to always be sure to say the right words. He loved her, but man she could be quite a handful. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I… I haven't been sleeping much lately. Or like, at all."

That softened her expression almost immediately. She didn't sit back down, sign she was still ready to leave in case it was needed, but she didn't make any move to walk away either. All in all, considering who he was dealing with, a good sign.

Hiccup took another deep breath. With Astrid, it was either spill everything or… wait until she made him spill everything. It usually went like that. While they were fighting the Hunters he could afford a 'trust me' as long as he told her everything later, and in some other occasions the same phrase would save him for a while, but when it came to his health he knew hiding things would only result in disaster.

That, and he was pretty sure Toothless would find a way to tell her anyway.

"I've been having nightmares lately," he began. "I always do this time of the year. I guess it's some sort of anniversary by now."

"Anniversary of what?" Instead of replying, he gestured to his leg. Or well, the metal prosthetic that replaced his missing leg. "Oh… What do you see? Do you-"

"Do I see you, Dad and Gobber holding me down while they cauterized the wound?" he replied evenly. "No. Honestly, even when you told me what happened after I blacked out, I still don't remember anything. It's… the nightmares are mainly from the fight with the Red Death."

"Oh… do you want to tell me about them?"

Hiccup shrugged lightly. "It's always the same four sequences. Fishlegs being crushed by that monster, Snotlout falling off its head, the twins being incinerated, and you…" He trailed off. Maybe having a favourite Rider wasn't fair to the others, but damn if that particular nightmare wasn't the worst of those four.

"And me being devoured by the Red Death," Astrid completed, not nearly as upset. The moment had been traumatizing, but given how the whole fight had been one huge traumatic day, that particular moment had been lost amidst the dozen times she'd almost died.

Hiccup nodded in confirmation despite knowing there was no need.

"Hiccup, we're all okay," she reassured him. "No one of us died."

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact you knocked on Death's door that day, and ran away just seconds before the door could open," replied the young Viking. "Rationally speaking, I know you're all fine, and that it never happened. But it doesn't change the fact I hate seeing you die. All of you."

"That's natural, Hiccup, but why didn't you say anything? We could've helped you!"

"No one can control the twins, Astrid, not even themselves," he reminded her. "And it's not permanent. I'll disappear soon."

"How do you know that?"

"It's like an anniversary, I told you." He fiddled with the string that secured him to Toothless while flying as he avoided Astrid's sharpening glare. "It happened in the past three years as well."

"And you never told _anyone_?" Her tone of voice informed him he was threading in _very_ dangerous waters.

"I told Gobber the first year," he replied weakly. "But nothing we tried to fight the insomnia worked. So I just endured it the second and third year, and here I am on the fourth."

"We could've helped you!" Saying he'd never seen her so frustrated would be a lie, but she was definitely upset. "Maybe we could've tried to take over for a while. Hiccup, for Thor's sake, it wouldn't be the first time you're not here to organize everything!"

He didn't reply for a few seconds. Hers sounded like a pretty good point. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy. "Astrid, I'm dreaming of you guys dying. Nothing less than an attack from Viggo himself is gonna let you out of my sight. And… the last night is the worst. After that, the nightmares will stop and I'll be back to normal."

Astrid's glare finally fully softened and she sighed with what he supposed was fondness. "I should've known." Shaking her head, her eyes focused back on him, though they were softer now – the kind of softness she rarely showed under normal circumstances. "What do you mean, the last night is the worst? How can you get less sleep than zero?"

Hiccup gulped guiltily and looked away. "W-Well, you- you know how they say. The- the last metres of a- a race are the- the worst."

"Because you're already tired from the race, yes," Astrid completed impatiently, not buying his pretence for a single second. "What's the real reason?"

"Astrid-"

"You went without sleep for longer before and you've never been like this," she retorted snappily. It was never a good thing to try and deceive Astrid for long. He knew better than that. That didn't mean he wouldn't try though.

A sharper glare told him that no, he was _not_ gonna try.

He tried to slump even more into the bed, with little to no success, unfortunately. Eventually he caved in, like he usually did when it came to Astrid. "I can deal with dreaming of you dying because eventually, I know it didn't happen. The Red Death is gone for good and it's never coming back – not that particular one, at least. The last nightmare is not a 'what could've happened'. It's… a memory."

She didn't say anything. As blunt as she was, Astrid knew when silence was the best way to urge someone to speak.

"I told you what happened in the Great Hall after Toothless was captured, didn't I?" She nodded briskly. No one, not even Snotlout or the twins, ever mentioned what happened in there, despite most of the village knowing. Young children were even lied to, told that Stoick had just been deaf to his son's words, because after Hiccup became a hero to the village, no one wanted to remember how little they deserved a hero. "You even used it to motivate me on the cliffs that day. Thanks to you, I got the courage to bring you to save everyone."

"Even though you did most of the work." He opened his mouth to protest, to point out how they had all helped, but she beat him to it. "We all merely played distraction long enough for you to get to Toothless."

"It- It doesn't matter right now." He pushed the matter aside, knowing that Astrid very well could -and would- defend her opinion all night long, if she had to. "You know what happened at the Great Hall… but that was just the short version."

"Feel like giving me the long version and not your last 'I messed up, Dad knows how to find the Nest, and I've been cast out of my family and my tribe alike'?" Astrid smirked gently before her smile fell once he didn't seem to react to her teasing.

"I was babbling. I mentioned the Queen as 'something else on their island'. Of course, of all my words he only heard that. He asked me how I knew about the island, how I got there. Trying to dissuade him from trying, I told him only… only a dragon could find the island." He laughed bitterly. "How stupid I was. I honestly thought I could discourage him. He's as stubborn as I am, and I'm the one who befriended a Night Fury by annoying the hell out of him until he bonded with me."

"Maybe you should've pestered your dad until he got tired of it and gave up on the Nest?" Astrid's smirk returned and departed just like the first one when he didn't reply immediately. "Don't tell me… That's what you tried to do, isn't it?"

"I told him not to go. I told him they could not fight the Queen. I told him he couldn't win. I implored him. 'For once in your life, could you please just _listen to me!_'." He repeated the exact same words he'd uttered four years prior, and so many times in his nightmares. Astrid seemed taken aback by the desperation he put in his voice, one that matched how he felt back then. Not that he could blame her. He rarely got desperate. Angry, irritated, sad, worried, upset, but rarely desperate. He usually tried to fix the problem – but when the problem seemed to insurmountable, back then, he had just been desperate. He'd been without his dragon, without the friends he now had, without his tribe to back him up.

How much things had changed in one day. The one day he cherished and dreaded most of all his memories.

Astrid's voice brought him back to reality, tearing him from his thoughts. "What happened then?"

Hiccup glanced at her, at her bright blue eyes, as if to take strength from her, before his gaze became unfocused, lost in another time and another place. "I grabbed his arm to try and make him listen, or at least turn. He threw me off, basically throwing me on the floor. Then he finally turned around, and suddenly I couldn't say anything. My dad had never been exceptionally kind to me before we made peace with the dragons, but he never, ever purposefully shoved me. Accidentally, yes, but never on purpose."

"And then he disowned you and cast you out of the tribe," Astrid completed quietly, as if not to break the religious silence in the air.

"His exact words were… 'You've thrown your lot in with them'." Astrid, once again, seemed surprised by the aggressiveness he put in his words. He didn't know if his father had meant to sound so hostile, probably he had, but that's how he remembered those words, and how he always would. "'You're not a Viking… You're not my son'."

Silence fell on the two for a while. After all, what words could be said? It was in the past, they could never change the past.

Eventually, Hiccup found himself talking once more. "But, as shocking as this may sound, being disowned wasn't what really made me understand I'd lost my father. It was the way he looked at me. He… he looked at me like I was an enemy of the tribe… No…" Astrid took his hand in a silent show of support. "He looked at me like I was one of the 'monsters' he fought. He looked at me like I was a dragon."

"It was just a moment, of course," he continued, this time more easily. "I mean, I saw his face when we arrived on dragon, even before he rescued me and Toothless from drowning. He was speechless for sure, but there was more to it. He was happy to see me. And even before, before he discovered I was right, when he was taking off for Helheim's Gate, I saw how he looked at me. He already considered casting me out a mistake born of anger. To his eyes, I was still his son." He lowered his eyes and his voice alike. "But apparently time can't heal all wounds. Even knowing he forgave me, and I forgave him, and that he only spoke out of anger, I _still_ can't get that moment out of my head. Always forgive but never forget, I think is the saying, huh?"

"Hiccup, why didn't you tell anyone? Hey, I'm talking to you," said Astrid, punching his arm to make him look at her. "You're not the first person to experience emotional trauma, Hiccup, someone could've helped you."

He just shrugged helplessly. "I just didn't want to be a burden. Not any more."

If it wasn't already clear Astrid knew what he was talking about, her next words fully confirmed it. "You're still afraid everyone's gonna shun you again, aren't you?"

His anger flared, fuelled by his tiredness, and he swatted her hand away, standing up. "Eight years as 'Hiccup the Useless', 'Hiccup the Runt', 'the Screw-up', aren't just gonna disappear. Who knows for how long still I'll be just Hiccup? As long as I'm successful, maybe it'll stick, but once I start to fail again, to screw up? What do you think will happen then? I haven't changed. I still cannot fight. My inventions still take months to work. The only thing that changed is that for now, I'm not failing. But what happens when I do? _That's_ why the last night of nightmares is always worse! It's a memory as well as a promise!"

"Hiccup, calm down!" She stood up as well, matching his anger with her own – just like it always happened. Her way of dealing with arguments was quite… peculiar. "You know that's not true, they're not gonna shun you!"

"Look who's talking!" he snapped back, apparently taking her off-guard. "I didn't see _you_ be anything but indifferent to me up until I killed the Red Death! Heck, during Dragon Training I'm pretty sure you hated me! You've never even spared me a glance, not before I became 'the pride of Berk' and-aurgh!"

He couldn't form any more words as a fist impacted hard with his midsection. It was nothing like the punches he'd gotten used to, which were hard but not actually meant to hurt. A second punch followed the first, hitting the side of his head and knocking him on the floor. That hurt like hell too.

He looked up to find her glaring coldly down at him, and he instinctually drew his Inferno, lighting up the blade and placing it between them.

"So quick to look at me as an enemy, aren't you?" If her glare were to get any colder, he'd probably freeze on the spot.

"You attacked me!"

"I punched you because you were saying I liked you only because of your fame!" she exclaimed angrily, and outside the sounds of their dragons playing stopped. "Just how lowly do you think of me?!"

"Well _excuse me_ if you never even acknowledged my existence prior to that!" Hiccup retorted, reaching his limit.

No one in the Riders -or in the village as a whole- ever addressed how Hiccup had been treated for years before the Red Death. It was a… delicate matter. Berk's dirty laundry, so to speak. After the Red Death, people slowly began to feel ashamed by their treatment of the boy, so bringing it up… was usually painful for everyone. And no one really wanted to risk angering the 'pride of Berk' and the only one who could control all their dragons, by reminding him he didn't really owe Berk much kindness.

Prior to that day, not even Astrid had wanted to broach the topic. Besides, what could even be said? The past was the past, and things had changed for the better. Talking about it could only lead to sadness, sorrow and anger. No one had forgotten about it, and everyone knew they wouldn't forget anytime soon. To everyone, Hiccup had become the symbol of peace, and not just with the dragons. The times before Hiccup became respected were times of constant struggles and battles, and even the most veteran Viking knew which one was best. They wouldn't forget the days of kill or be killed.

However, not talking about something rarely led to good. Despite wanting to deny it, Hiccup knew he was still somewhat bitter. How could he not? He knew they had just wanted him to Viking up so he wouldn't die, but that was such a feeble excuse now. And it was common knowledge how bitterness, over time, either faded or strengthened.

His hadn't faded.

It wasn't exactly his fault. It was just that, every time someone praised him, he couldn't help but think of how exactly like 'Hiccup the Useless' would be ridiculed for the same exact habits. While now everyone went 'aww' and 'ooh' at all his inventions, he could still remember the laughter and the insults from before. Sometimes for the very same inventions.

So, it wasn't Hiccup what they were praising, it was the Pride of Berk.

Ditto. Pride. A concept, not a person. He was still the same person they ridiculed and insulted. Just, now he wasn't the easy picking any longer.

On a rational level, he knew that people had to have changed in order to endure all his quirks and all his peculiarities, Astrid included. But… it was almost a week he didn't sleep. Rational was as far from his current mind state as possible.

For good or for ill, Astrid was there to remind him.

"Do you really think I just went 'poof! I think I like Hiccup enough to kiss him in front of the entire village' while until the day before I acted like a warrior before a person?" she inquired coldly, making him tighten his grip on his sword. "True, I didn't start having actual feelings for you until you brought me on that flight with Toothless. And before you say how I 'gained feelings for you only because you tamed a dragon', no it wasn't that. At the time, I _still_ wasn't so sure befriending dragons was the best idea you could have. It was because of the _implications_ behind your friendship with Toothless."

"Huh?"

"You've always been brave in my opinion. I mean, not the same courage you need to fight, but still you were the only person who could disobey the chief, be lectured and ridiculed in front of the entire village, be insulted _by_ the entire village, and still go on doing that because you thought it was the right thing."

"The chief was still my father," argued Hiccup.

"Did he act like it?" His silence was telling enough. "And taming a dragon? Going against the very core of being a Viking and not giving a damn about it? That takes a kind of bravery no one, and I mean it, had in the entire village, expect for you."

"What? Was I the only one crazy enough to befriend a dragon?!" Hiccup snapped, unconsciously dropping back into the self-deprecating sarcasm he so often used when he was younger.

"Well, if I remember correctly, crazy is what you used to kill the Red Death."

"And it costed me a leg, if you haven't noticed!"

"It would've costed us hundreds of people hadn't you intervened." Once again, he kept quiet, and Astrid continued her earlier speech. "Not just bravery though. I'm not stupid, after I went back home that night I realized that Toothless was the Night Fury you shot down – which adds inhuman accuracy or inhuman luck to the list, by the way. You befriended a dragon that should've hated you. At the time I didn't know you actually let him go, but still the fact you befriended him instead of just telling the village there was a dragon in that cove speaks of great compassion – which is the main thing I like about you. Aside from your brains, which obviously aren't working right now."

Even during an argument like that, Hiccup still pouted at the remark.

"At the time, I wondered how could you, someone who's ever been shown compassion only by Gobber and never by anyone else, have been merciful enough to spare the dragon that had been terrorizing the village for years. Where did you learn that, since you rarely experienced it?" She shrugged. "Honestly, I never got an answer to that. I guess it must just be another crazy thing about you." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Though one day, one day I'll find out for sure."

He stayed silent.

"Now, since you're always so smart, I'm sure you must be wondering why I never even spoke to you at the time, aren't you?" He nodded slowly. Going from what she'd said, he really couldn't see the reason. "Well, at the time you were the village runt, and I was the perfect future warrior. We couldn't have been more far apart. Had I befriended you, I would've lost the good will of the village, which I'll admit was a good part of why I chose to stay away, and you would've been targeted with even more spite and hatred than ever… can you really tell me Snotlout wouldn't have beaten the crap out of you everyday and mean it?"

"No." He looked down at his sword and collapsed it back. "Astrid, I… Look, I'm- I'm sorry. I- I got angry and- and I lashed out and-"

"And you were an idiot, yes you were, but so were we for not noticing any of this earlier." Astrid grabbed his arm and forced him back up on his feet, ignoring his yelp of surprise. "I guess we're all at fault here. Now, this should be the last day of nightmares, so just stay up late and sleep tomorrow."

"How do-"

"You're not the only one who won't ever forget that battle, Hiccup. I think I'm speaking for everyone, even the dragons, when I say it was terrifying. We will all remember what day that was." Astrid nudged him toward the door. "It's gonna be hard, but if you don't sleep tonight and catch up with sleep tom-"

"No, I need to be awake tomorrow," he refused, shaking his head.

"Hiccup-"

"Something bad is gonna happen tomorrow, I know it," he cut her off. "The nightmares foretell something bad. I don't know what, but-"

"Hiccup, you're not making any sense!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "You clearly need to sleep soon, and-"

"Listen, it happened every other time too!" he retorted, gesturing wildly and narrowly missing Astrid's head, who ducked unimpressed. "The first year, it was when I threw Snotlout out of the Riders because he couldn't follow my orders. That day, the Screaming Death was sighted again, and my father captured by the Berserkers. True, the next day we solved it, but still it definitely wasn't a good day. The second year we got another epidemic of Eel Pox, and that time I got it too. Do you remember how long it took Ruff and Tuff to get all the ingredients?"

The girl cringed. That had been a bad outbreak indeed. The fact their survival had depended on the twins definitely hadn't helped.

"Third year, we got a big freeze that killed all our crops because I couldn't direct the dragons' fire correctly and we couldn't salvage anything. We had to head out with our dragons to catch as much fish as possible to survive the winter." Astrid nodded. He had a point… kind of. "So yeah, I'm waiting for something just as bad to happen this year. And given who our enemies are…"

"You fear Viggo will attack tomorrow, don't you?"

"Exactly. Well, no, but… argh! I don't know! That's the problem!" Hiccup shook his head and sat back down on his bed. "Viggo never does anything without having a plan, and I can't see what kind of a plan a full-out attack would be!"

"Well, let's not rush things yet, okay? Maybe Viggo will not attack," offered Astrid, making him deadpan at her. "Look, I know it may seem like a bad omen coming true or something, but these three years haven't been ill fortune, Hiccup. Well, the first one might, but we'd been at war with the Outcasts and the Berserkers for months back then, and we'd been expecting the Screaming Death to reappear. The Eel Pox epidemic was bad because we had to rely on Ruff and Tuff instead of you. I mean, they can be reliable at times, but I wouldn't exactly call them serious or professional. And the third year, you said it yourself, you couldn't direct the dragon fire. But both the last ones happened because of your lack of sleep, Hiccup."

By then, he was listening closely.

"Look, I'm not some genius or anything, but on both occasions you were severely sleep deprived. This made you a much easier target for the disease since you were weak, and we all know you can't think straight when you're tired, so you couldn't direct the dragon fire." He said nothing, taking in her words and the obvious truth he hadn't seen before. "And honestly, the fact you threw Snotlout out of the Riders was probably due to the fact you were tired and you had little patience at the time."

"That, and he almost got you killed…" Hiccup murmured too soft for her to hear. Though she probably knew that and just hadn't mentioned it to spare him the embarrassment.

"So tomorrow isn't gonna magically go awful," she finished her reasoning. "You'll just be extremely tired, and that's why you'll make mistakes that'll lead to disasters. Which is why I'm gonna take over the leadership for tomorrow."

"Astrid…"

"No. You need to sleep, and the Edge needs someone to take care of it while you can't. Fishlegs would be perfect if it wasn't that he has no control over Snotlout or the twins."

"No one does…"

"And we both know why Snotlout or the twins wouldn't be good ideas themselves."

"I'll make them leaders when I'll need the Edge destroyed."

"Which only leaves me." She punched his arm when he made to protest, effectively and painfully shutting him up. "So now, try to get some rest in. Tomorrow is another day!" She stood up, dusted herself off, and marched over to the door.

"Astrid, wait, you-"

SLAM!

Too late. Also, he'd really have to teach her not to slam doors so often.

/-/

His restless sleep was abruptly halted by a loud boom. Fearing the worst, Hiccup shot out of bed, attached his peg leg and grabbed Inferno before heading out with Toothless by his side, pushing aside his fatigue to focus on repelling the attack.

Only, there were no Dragon Hunter ships in sight. Nor any enemy at all, actually. The sky was a tad cloudy, yes, but it was still a seemingly normal and beautiful day. The forest wasn't on fire, the cliffs were still mostly up and…

Wait a… _mostly?_

Hiccup watched in incredulous silence as part of the cliffside slid down and detached from the rest, falling into the sea with a tremendous splash. Even Toothless gaped from beside him, still looking at where the cliff once had several hundreds more tons of rock attached to it.

Two familiar hollers rang out in the morning air, and Hiccup whimpered.

He looked around and spotted a familiar head of blond hair not far from where he was. One Astrid Hofferson seemed to be arguing with a certain Snotlout Jorgenson about… something. The two of them were just outside of Astrid's hut, and Snotlout was gesturing over to where the cliff no longer stood.

With a sigh, he mounted on Toothless and jumped down from the platform his hut stood on, landing beside the two teens. "What's going on here?" A lone boulder splashed into the sea. "And why did the twins just blow up a cliff?"

"Don't worry, Hiccup, I got this," Astrid reassured him. For some reason he didn't feel any less worried. "And don't worry about the cliff, there wasn't anything important on it."

"She let the twins blow up my guard tower!" Snotlout accused dramatically, pointing a finger at her – a rather shaky one, to tell the truth.

"Astrid, what is he talking about?" Hiccup asked, exasperated. "Snotlout doesn't _have_ a guard tower…"

"Not any more!" said boy added hastily.

"He thought that just because you took the day off he could go and build himself some S-filled stupid thing his dumb brain came up with," the Shieldmaiden defended her position. "So I told the twins to blow it up. He wouldn't listen!"

Were… were they for real? A cliff had been destroyed just because the idiot wanted a tower and she did not?

His sleep-deprived brain groaned in despair. "Okay, guys? Let's- Let's talk about this. Snotlout, you- you can't just… _build a guard tower_ whenever you feel like it. We don't need a guard tower, all of our huts are our guard towers." He turned to Astrid. "But- But blowing up a cliff is _not_ the right way to- to deal with projects you don't agree with. Just because he's Snotlout doesn't mean destroying a cliff is worth the trouble."

"Hey!"

"It was either that, or him having words with my axe," Astrid stated firmly. "I just chose the more pacifistic option."

"Why- Why- Why couldn't you two just… just talk it out?" The two exchanged glares, and Hiccup sighed. "Okay, look, just… just forget this, okay? Snotlout, no you can't have a guard tower. If you really want one, since your hut is currently destroyed, make a guard tower out of your house. Astrid, try not to let him annoy you into doing this again. Discussion's over, I'm going with Toothless to catch some breakfast."

"There's no need for that, Hiccup, I already sent Fishlegs to catch a few nets' worth of fish. Should be enough for everyone." Her smile oozed satisfaction as she sauntered away under his pleasantly surprised gaze. "I'm making fried fish!"

Hiccup's smile died a very quick and painful death.

/-/

Astrid's terrible cooking had one upside, only one. It gave him an hour or so to rest while everyone was too sick to cause any trouble. Tuffnut's comment was offensive, but not completely untrue. If Astrid were to be captured and forced to cook for the Dragon Hunters, Viggo would surrender within the day.

Unfortunately, once that one hour ended, the three infamous idiots living on Dragon's Edge were back into business, and with Astrid in charge, it was either going to end in disaster, or in a bloodbath.

Needless to say, the blood wouldn't be Astrid's.

"Could you please leave me alone now?" he asked, in vain he might add. Astrid had given her specific instructions, and Stormfly wasn't going to let him go until an hour had passed, just as Astrid had told her. Still, the Deadly Nadder squeaked in commiseration at him while holding him in her talons, with a fish-bribed Toothless laying not too far away. "Sometimes I regret teaching Astrid how to train a dragon…"

Stormfly seemed to shrug.

/-/

Hiccup was roused from his nap in Stormfly's wings by Fishlegs's screams. He tapped the Nadder's underbelly twice to make her open the wing cocoon she'd wrapped him in. Still held tightly by her claws, he looked around to analyse the situation and identify the problem.

The cliffs were still there – thank Odin for small mercies. The sky hadn't fallen on their heads, the volcano didn't seem to be erupting, the forest was fine, no tidal wave was coming to kill them, and no enemy ship was in sight. Truly a wonderful sight… hadn't Fishlegs's hut been on fire, and with a hole in his roof.

He fell back against Stormfly's warm scales and groaned. "What happened this time?"

"Oh, I don't know," said a voice from his left, making him jump – or rather, making him try to jump, only to be held down by the dragon. Ruffnut continued undeterred. "Everything was as boring as always, when suddenly BOOM!"

"A fireball slammed into Fishlegs's hut and caved his roof in," Tuffnut added from his right, scaring him just like his sister had. "I wish I could say we are responsible for this but…"

"It came from Snotlout's house," completed Ruffnut, both of them sad they hadn't been the one to cause destruction. Then she perked up. "Wait, if Snotlout can have a catapult…"

"We can have one too!" she and her twin spoke together before running to Barf and Belch, who were parked nearby.

"No! Wait! Someone stop them!" he shouted, desperately trying and failing to get out of Stormfly's embrace. "Twins alarm! Someone sound the twins alarm! Toothless! Do something, you useless reptile!"

The Night Fury warbled, disinterested, before snarling at Barf and Belch, who threw the two walking disasters off their saddles and flew away to who knew where.

"Stormfly, tail shot!" Hiccup ordered, pointing at the twins. Unfortunately, given how the dragon was holding him, it took her a few seconds to get her tail ready, a few seconds the twins used to make their escape. "No! Somebody has to tell Astrid! The twins are loose and with an idea! Why can't you two get it?! The Edge is more important than my nap!"

"Don't worry Hiccup, I got this," Snotlout spoke up from behind Stormfly, startling him yet again. "Watch and learn!"

"Why is everyone sneaking up on me today!?" he shouted after him as the boy ran up to Fishlegs's hut with a bucket of water in his hands, only for him to trip on a pebble and drop the bucket, spilling the water on the ground. "Ugh…"

"Err… I still got this! This was just… err… for dramatic effects, yeah!" the idiot tried to save face, like always, and like always no one even answered him.

Thankfully Meatlug and Hookfang were smart enough to grab some barrels filled with water and dump them on the house, and after Barf and Belch joined in -probably under Toothless's orders-, the fire was completely doused in water and extinguished.

"Snotlout, what did you do?!" Fishlegs yelled, coming out of his house with a pile of papers cradled protectively in his arms. "You set my house on fire!"

"What's all this noise about?! I was trying to focus!" Astrid's voice cut through the air before the Jorgenson boy could formulate one of his usual arrogant responses. The girl herself appeared a few seconds after, slightly out of breath. "What happened to your house, Fishlegs?!"

"I don't know, but it looks like Snotlout threw a flaming boulder into it!" replied the bigger boy. "I heard someone talking about a catapult!"

"Hiccup told me to turn my hut into a tower so I did!" protested Snotlout. "And every respectable guard tower has at the very least a catapult!"

"What?!" Hiccup fell back against Stormfly. "Snotlout, I- I-"

"Hiccup said that only to get you out of his hair!" Astrid retorted angrily, despairing Hiccup even further.

"No, I-"

"Well, I wouldn't have built a tower in my house hadn't _someone_ destroyed my old guard tower!"

"Snotlout, you _know_ you can't build yourself a tower whenever you feel like it!"

"Why?! Hiccup said I could!"

"Hiccup's not in charge today, I am!"

"But you did what Hiccup told you to do!"

"That's called respect!"

"Enough, both of you! You're giving me a headache, bickering back and forth like this!" Hiccup interrupted the two before the situation could get any worse. "Astrid, if Snotlout really wants a tower, let him build a tower in his house." Snotlout grinned smugly at her, but his smile fell at his next words. "But Snotlout, _only_ a tower. No catapults, no ballistas, no anything. Only a tower."

Astrid crossed her arms, but didn't protest. Snotlout grumbled, but didn't protest. A win in his opinion.

"Now, both of you, go stop the twins before _they_ build a catapult."

/-/

Hiccup didn't acknowledge Astrid's presence as she walked up to him, their dragons by their sides and the sun setting on the horizon. Together, they watched as what little remained of the clubhouse crumbled like a sand castle, crashing onto the ground. Snotlout's shrill screams echoed in the twilight air, alongside Fishlegs's shouts and the twins' laughter.

And the Edge… well, destroyed was maybe a bit too strong of a word, but it definitely needed some serious repairing. Snotlout's hut was back to what it was at the start of the day – a pile of rubble. His and Astrid's houses' supports had been targeted as well, making the two huts collapsed into each other and into the ground. Fishlegs was lucky, at least he still had something that vaguely resembled a house. The twins had demolished their own hut to build a set of catapults in record time, but neither seemed to mind the loss of a roof over their heads. And the clubhouse had just kicked the bucket as well.

But, it wasn't the end of the world, no! They still had the training grounds, and the storages, and the stables!

_BOOM!_

"Bull's eye!"

Scratch that last one.

He was taking it definitely well, he decided. After all, he'd just long given up on stopping the twins, and emptied his hut before its inevitable demise in form of a boulder struck. Others hadn't been so lucky.

Beside him, Astrid was taking it fairly differently. She seemed to be torn between immense fury and just as immense embarrassment.

"Well, today's finally over, at least," he commented evenly. Astrid flinched, but he didn't care. Part of that was her fault, and he still was dead on his feet for his lack of sleep. He was not in a forgiving mood. "Let's hope they'll manage to stop the twins soon enough."

Astrid still didn't speak. He shrugged, and mounted on Toothless. "If you need me, I'll be in the forest. See you tomorrow and good night!"

Toothless cooed a good night as well before Night Fury and Rider took off, and the girl soon disappeared from sight.

/-/

Hiccup didn't move as the steps came closer and finally stopped behind him, for two reasons. One, the calm sea was truly a sight to behold, and second he already knew who it was.

Still behind him, Astrid sighed. "I'm sorry for yesterday."

Short and straight to the point. Her opening line was so 'Astrid' he faintly smiled. "Yeah, me too."

"I thought I could handle everything, I thought it wouldn't be too hard to keep those three idiots from destroying the Edge for just one day." She sighed again, and came nearer to sit beside him on the cliffs. "I guess I was wrong."

"No, you weren't. It's my fault." He shushed her when she opened her mouth to protest. "Ah ah ah. Don't deny it. Hadn't I intervened, you would've just told Snotlout to grow up and accept he couldn't have a guard tower. As usual I tried to make everyone happy and eventually I failed, because no one could keep Snotlout out of trouble."

"Which was _my_ responsibility," remarked the Shieldmaiden.

"No, which is no one's responsibility. I don't spend all day keeping an eye on everyone. I made a mistake and gave Snotlout an idea, which resulted in the twins getting an idea, which resulted in everything being destroyed. You aren't at fault for that." Hiccup sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It was just that Snotlout and the twins thought they'd be given more leeway without me in charge… which is just stupid since you were the one replacing me. But since when Snotlout and the twins _aren't_ stupid?"

Her silence meant she conceded he had a point in that. Argument apparently over, he turned back to the sea.

"I'm sorry."

"I already told you-"

"That it wasn't my fault, I know, but that's not the point." Astrid sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "I told you not to worry and yet you had every reason to be worried. I bet this is the worst anniversary yet."

"No, it's not." She glared at him, unconvinced. "Look, we built the Edge from nothing, we can do it again. We _are _doing it again. And as bad as yesterday was, it could've gone worse. At least there were no storms, no eruptions and no attacks from the Dragon Hunters."

"That doesn't mean it wasn't awful, it just means it wasn't the worst day of your life," Astrid pointed out, still unimpressed with his attempt at reassuring her.

"I swear, yesterday was the _best_ anniversary yet," he continued, undeterred. "Because yesterday I could lean on you."

"But I let you down," she protested. "I couldn't control the twins, and I couldn't tell Snotlout-"

"I didn't say you did everything perfectly, because one look at how our outpost currently looks like and I'd be proven wrong. I said I leaned on you, and that's true." Hiccup shrugged, seemingly uncaring of the destruction of their entire base. "Because disasters or not, yesterday people didn't come to _me_ for answers, they went for _you_. _I_ wasn't the one who was stressed out of his mind to manage the entire gang and their dragons lest they somehow started the end of the world. As awful as yesterday was, _for me_ it wasn't that awful. And it's all thanks to you."

"Because I messed up?" she tried to guess.

"Because you were the only one who tried to help me. I mean, Gobber tried to help me too, but nothing worked because we never took in consideration the fact I might just have to step down and let someone else lead for me." He winced as a stray splash reached their ears. "And even though yesterday might've been one epic failure in terms of keeping the gang under control, it still didn't stress me out as much as it would've, had I been in charge."

"So, basically, thanks for messing up in my place?" Astrid summed it all up.

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess that might just be the case." Another splash, followed by a curse, reached them, and he sighed. "Okay, nap time's over for everyone, we have an entire outpost to rebuild."

"And let's hope next year Berk won't be destroyed instead," added Astrid as the two walked away from the cliffs, and towards their duties.

Another splash echoed, and they sped up their pace, discussing what the others could've caused in the ten minutes they'd been gone.


End file.
